How to Create a Good Work-Life Balance: Article Outline

Part 4: What to Do Once You Have Found Your Balance (and What to Do if You Get Stuck Again)

Each section will provide tips you can use as well as an activity for you to do in the workbook/planner you can download for free and use at your own convenience.

Now, let’s dive in!

Part 1: Time Management and Scheduling

Two important things you need to do right away to find a good work-life balance are to become more productive and to put yourself on a schedule.

Here’s how to do each:

Become MORE Productive!

Create a list of tasks. Prioritize the tasks with numbers.

Estimate how long it will take to complete each task.

Check to see how long it ACTUALLY TOOK you to complete each task.

You will become better at planning and scheduling the amount of time for each task!

Create a Schedule

Using 30-60 minute increments, make a schedule.

Make a weekly schedule instead of a daily schedule.

Include ALL activities in it!

SWISS CHEESE big tasks. (Devote small chunks of time to a big task. By doing this, your big task will seem smaller and more manageable. You will be less stressed and more likely to make progress!

Leave room for OPEN TIME.

Be realistic!

Follow it as closely as you can.

Activity – Using the workbook/planner provided, jot down a few tasks and activities you do EACH WEEK. Then organize them into the schedule provided.

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Click here to get your FREE Workbook/Planner

Part 2: Balancing Work with Leisure

Finding a good work-life balance entails much more than simply creating a schedule. It involves many factors! Here are 9 different things you can do to wend your way to a happier, more fulfilling life.

1: Plan for obstacles.

Use countermeasures to help you remember what to do.

For example, when you are working on a task and you find yourself wanting to check your email or go on Facebook, then take a break!

2: Designate a workspace.

Only work in your workspace.

Eat at your table, sleep in your bed, and work productively in your workspace.

3: Establish routines.

For example, each day, when I get up, I immediately go to the washroom. Then I drink a glass of water and take my medication and vitamins. While the water for my tea is boiling (3 ½ minutes in the microwave), I make my bed. I then have my tea with my cigarette (yes, I’m a smoker!) while reviewing my positive affirmations and list of tasks for the day.

Then, depending on what day it is, I will either have a shower right away and get dressed, or, if it’s a “workout” day, I will wait to have a shower until after I’m done working out. The point is, I have established a morning routine, and it jump-starts me for the day!

4: Use the Pomodoro technique when working.

Set a timer for 25 minutes. Take a 5-minute break.

During your break, you can stretch, walk around, have some water, or meditate. Then return to your work and set the timer again for 25 minutes. Then take another 5-minute break.

Following this, set your timer for 45 minutes. Then take a 15-minute break.

5: Incorporate leisure and “down time” into EACH DAY, and remember to be social!

Take time to do things you WANT to do. This might include watching something (TV, YouTube videos, a movie, etc.), playing a game with your family or friends, going for coffee, talking on the phone, doing a hobby (such as knitting, drawing, painting, etc.), and/or attending a special event.

6: Remember to exercise AND pamper yourself.

Exercise does not have to be a chore. You can put on a song and dance to it!

Pamper yourself by doing something special JUST FOR YOU. Whether this is taking a bubble bath, going for a sauna, doing your nails, getting a pedicure, or reading a book, the point is to do something SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU.

7: Allow yourself flexibility.

Stop being available to everyone 24/7. Turn off your phone (or turn down your notification sound). The world will not end if you have to make someone wait 24 hours for your attention/response!

8: When it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to play, play.

Use techniques to transition yourself.

For example, dress a certain way for “the office.” Walk to work (even if you work at home, you can go for a walk, and use this time to get into “work mode.”

Transitioning yourself means changing your mindset from one mode to the other. To do this, take deep breaths, meditate for a few minutes, and focus on what is next on your list for the day. You can also do a crossword puzzle, or listen to some music before beginning the evening’s routine.

9: Take days off and treat your business like a job.

Allow yourself to relax and NOT think about work pressures and stresses for at least TWO days a week. Also, take vacation days! Plan for a two-week holiday at least once a year.

Part 3: How to Implement these Techniques and Achieve Balance

It’s easy to read about what to do, but it’s not always easy to actually DO IT!

Here are 17 tips you can use to improve your work-life balance.

1: Set your priorities.

Concentrate on one thing at a time. Respect your private time. Reward your progress. Similarly, if you experience a failure, create punishments for yourself.

This will help reinforce positive behaviors. It provides you with motivation and an incentive to achieve your goals!

2: Do weekly and monthly reflections.

Look at whether or not you are attaining your goals. If you aren’t, revise your schedule and try again. If you have met your goals easily, create more lofty goals. Continue to push yourself until you can achieve a balance!

Activity – Using the workbook/planner provided, fill in your thoughts after one week and then again after one month, in the sections provided.

DOWNLOAD

Click here to get your FREE Workbook/Planner

3: Don’t expect perfection from yourself.

Forgive yourself when you slip up. Learn from your mistakes. Similarly, if you find that you are at peace, note what you did to feel that way, then try to replicate it.

4: Ask for support.

Outsource work. Delegate tasks. Automate social media. Use tools to help you.

5: Hire a personal coach.

A personal coach can assess your current work-life balance, and can tell you what you can do to achieve optimal balance.

15: Don’t measure success based on how much you earn.

Success means different things to everyone. It is NOT always about your earnings! Measure your success by how far you have come in your own journey, the improvements you’ve made in your personal development, and how happy you are in your daily life.

Your overall life happiness is what matters!

16: Invest and reinvest.

Investing in yourself and your business allows your business to grow.

Use tools to help you. Automate your social media promotions. Hire a virtual assistant. Outsource tasks. (Yes, I know I mentioned this already! But it’s worth repeating!) Paying for certain tools to do things that you could do (but don’t have the time to) is a good investment of your money. It will free your time up to earn more!

For example, if it takes you 2 hours to schedule you social media posts, and you could potentially earn $400 in the same time by writing for a client, hire someone at $35/hour to do your scheduling. You can then devote your two hours to making $400 and still make a profit of $330 because your VA will cost you $35 x 2 = $70.

17: Remember that balance is essential to good health!

If you do not have a good work-life balance, your health will suffer. You will also begin to resent job, and perhaps you will resent others, too, such as your friends and your family members.

By striking a good work-life balance, you will be a much happier person!

Activity – Using the workbook/planner provided, create a sample schedule. Be sure to include all of your activities (both work-related and personal ones) in it!

DOWNLOAD

Click here to get your FREE Workbook/Planner

Part 4: What to Do Once You Have Found Your Balance (and What to Do if You Get Stuck Again)

It might take you a while to find the balance you desire, but with a bit of effort, I am confident you will find it.

Once you have found your balance, try to maintain it. When you get stuck again, and start feeling overwhelmed, review these tips. Remind yourself that you’re human. Then re-do the activities again.

Remember, we are human. Life will get in the way of our plans. Emergencies will arise.

Lorraine Reguly, B.A./B.Ed., is an author and English teacher-turned-freelancer for hire. Her life journey is motivational and inspirational. Lorraine's book, From Nope to Hope, is a self-help book designed to help anyone who wishes to lead a happier life, and contains a built-in workbook. Lorraine offers 4 different services on Wording Well, including writing/blogging, and editing. She also helps others become published authors! Check out her services and see what she can do for YOU. You can also visit her author site, Laying It Out There. And don't forget to pick up your FREE copy of 20 Blog Post Must-Haves today!

14 thoughts on “How to Find a Good Work-Life Balance (+ a FREE Workbook/Planner)”

Balancing life with a headache full job/business is not easy for a person. As a blogger, I would say it is very difficult for a startup guy to take out some time and spend it with friends and family. Lots of things are there to be completed. Hence one should take at least one day break in a week to get refreshed so that work efficiency gets doubled.. 🙂

Great post, Lorraine. I can see how much thought you have put into it.

I totally agree with you about lists and prioritizing things. Without those two strategies, I would be lost!

I am a caregiver for my elderly husband, so often, my own schedule or priorities have to be rescheduled due to matters beyond my control. But the only thing that gets me thru all that is to have fun things in my life to look forward to like my weekly Toastmasters meetings, monthly theatre dates with a friend, and the occasional work-related trip. A positive disposition also helps. 🙂 P.S. Your comment luv isn’t working for me. It wants a www. in front of my URL, but my URL doesn’t have a www. You may want to change that parameter.

What wonderful tips…I love them because it is how I live my life. Blame it on me being a Libra, but I do love balance. If I don’t have it in my life I get to be a mess.

I do believe that time management is so important. Which ever way one can do it…apply that one thing in to your life and the rest follows. And of course, play for goodness sake. We are creatures that need play, down time, vegging out or meditation time. Allow it and we start feeling a “shift” within our being.

When we get back to work smartly, then all the words come to us as our fingers fly across the keyboard.

Good tips! Love those 30 to 60 minute chunks of work. I set mine at 60 and break for 5-10 minutes in between. Kelli and I also set aside 1 hour for exercise daily and 1-2 hours – at least, LOL – for Netflix watching. This time is critical! Because pulling back from blogging helps us remain light, energized, focused and high-vibing, all qualities we need to rock it out in a major league way, in our niche…AND to enjoy the freedoms of working at home. On that note, I am taking a nap at 1:00 PM after writing this comment 😉 Thanks for sharing 🙂

It’s quite hard to balance the work life and the free time. The time management is required to be happy. Though I am happy right now but still it’s good to have a perfect plan. You have mentioned some great points here. Thanks for sharing with us.

Hi Lorraine, Getting a leisure for a small time can give us a boost to living a good life and more importantly as you said it balances our life. So, thanks for sharing this amazing post. Have a good weekend.Robin Khokhar recently posted…11 Ways to Speed Up WordPress Blog and website?

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